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How far has MLS come?

(FIFA.com) Saturday 3 May 2008

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Now in its 13th season, Major League Soccer (MLS) has become an
established and respected professional league in North, Central
America and the Caribbean.
FIFA.com asks you, the users, just how much of a
difference you think the teenage top flight has made on the
American soccer scene and beyond.

Expanded to 14 teams from the original ten of the inaugural
season in 1996, MLS plans to have two more more clubs in Seattle
and Philadelphia by 2010. In 2007, the league opened its first
franchise in Canada and MLS sides have regularly reached the later
rounds of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in recent years after DC
United won the regional showpiece in 1998 during the capital
club's glory days.

With modest objectives and low attendances early on, MLS now
attracts some of the biggest names in the Americas and beyond and
draws increasingly greater numbers of fans. The presence of David
Beckham, Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Marcello Gallardo argue the
expansion of Major League Soccer has brought the game in the States
to a new level in 2008.

The vast majority of the current USA national team play, or have
played, in Major League Soccer. Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore,
DaMarcus Beasley, Clint Dempsey and Freddy Adu are just a few
examples. A similar trend exists in Canada with Dwayne De Rosario
of Houston Dynamo captaining the
Canucks as they head into 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa
™ qualifying in June.

Whether you are a fan of MLS or not,
FIFA.com asks you this question: how much of an
impact has the league had in America, Canada and even farther
afield in its 13-year lifespan?

Click 'Add your comment' to share your opinion with
footballer followers across the globe, but please remember to keep
your posts clean, respectful and in English.